Marcus Hart (00:01.175)
So Nick, man, it's an honor to have you here on the Transform You Live show. Your story is straight up inspiring. Come back vet, 27 months in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bronze star, Stanford MBA, and now leading a company that is doing amazing things. So let's get real. You know, you've been through the fire with depression, anxiety, and addiction. Take us back to the darkest moment. What was the toughest hit that you took and how did you even start to climb?
Out of it.
Nick Padlo (00:31.941)
Yeah, so, you know, for whatever reason I got, I'll put it in quotes, lucky, and that I didn't face some of the, like some of the normal consequences of, you know, of alcohol and drug use. You know, I didn't end up in the hospital, didn't get a DUI, you know, didn't get arrested for anything, although I could have been hundreds of times, it just didn't happen to me. But for me,
Marcus Hart (00:43.931)
Okay.
Nick Padlo (00:57.957)
you know, the consequence was really, or, know, my rock bottom was really, you know, my mental health had taken a hit and then I was trying to fix that with alcohol and cocaine, you know? And so I was like, and it did fix it for a minute, right? You know, it fixes it, then it gets worse. It fixes it and it gets worse. And you kind of just always just trying to get back to even, or I was always trying to get back to even, but it kind of spiraled to the point where, you know, I didn't want to be here anymore. you know, and I mean,
Marcus Hart (01:13.936)
Right.
Nick Padlo (01:27.633)
told this story before, but you know, my rock bottom was a hotel room in Dallas with a, you know, nine millimeter trying to decide if it was going to my last day. And so, you know, I was, I was close. I was close to, to making that final decision. And, it was kind of a, make or break moment, right? Either you end it or you do something different. because what I realized, you know, I don't think I realized it at the time, but you know, what I tell people who are in that point is like,
Is it really that you don't want to live anymore? You don't want to live like this anymore. And for me, I mean, the answer was I didn't want to live like this anymore. I didn't know if there was another option. I didn't know if it could get better, but I figured I'd give it one more shot, you know, to do something different. And I'd never been to rehab. I'd never been to treatment. I'd never, you know, really gone to AA or I'd never done anything. So, so there was a lot I could do different, you know? and so I picked up the phone, and, you know, went to my phone and searched for rehabs online.
Marcus Hart (01:59.224)
And yeah.
Marcus Hart (02:05.776)
Right.
Marcus Hart (02:16.506)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (02:24.689)
and found one and called them. And for me, that was really the turning point. That was my rock bottom, but it was also the turning point where I had a fighting shot. not to say that things got all better and the rest of my life has been perfect, but that was when I started fighting and it's made all the difference for me.
Marcus Hart (02:34.895)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (02:44.219)
Rather, you know, that's very powerful. thank God that you are here and able to kind of share with us, you know, just your struggle and how you overcome it. For myself personally, you know, it's very relatable story for me. know, myself, you know, a wreck veteran came back, dealt with PTSD. My weapon of choice for addiction was gambling and sex and alcohol and drugs. know, so I definitely understand.
you know, when I say I understand, definitely understand, brother, you know, just to be able to, you know, be here today and talk about like, you know, how military culture toughness, self-reliance, it make it hard for vets to like ask for help, you know, options do seem very bleak and very much like in the dark somewhere that, you know, we just don't want to put the light on. So, what was it like for you to kind of break through that stigma and admit you need support?
Nick Padlo (03:41.039)
Yeah, I mean, the first thing I realized when I got to rehab is that I really liked rehab. You know, I was not everybody does, but for me, it was like, you know, I was kind of trying to I was putting a lot of pressure on myself with work and with, you know, other responsibilities and kind of being in that place where I could just focus on me and learn some things I'd never been told before. You know, like we don't teach cognitive behavioral therapy in high school or college or grad school, you know.
Marcus Hart (03:48.059)
Thank you.
Marcus Hart (03:55.269)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (04:01.114)
Okay.
Marcus Hart (04:08.835)
Right. Yeah.
Nick Padlo (04:09.649)
And so we don't learn these things. And it's like this whole new world of like learning about self and learning how to deal with problems. And it's like, Oh man, there's actually like ways to do this better than what I've been doing. And so I think that was my first realization, you know, when I went to rehab as I was like, okay, there's a lot for me here. I don't know how it's all going to work. I don't know, but it was, I got some hope pretty early on, um, you know, and then that hope built, um, and you know, I relapsed after that, I had to go back for round two.
Marcus Hart (04:20.345)
Mm-hmm.
Marcus Hart (04:28.708)
Yeah.
Nick Padlo (04:39.601)
but that was a lot easier than the first time, you know, for me to go back because I knew that that help existed. You know, I knew that it could get better, even though I was still doing it wrong. I knew that I could get better. and so, you know, to this day, now if I'm struggling, I'm like, well, at least I know in the back of my head that like better exists. And so that was kind of the, you know, the journey for me. and like I said, I really enjoyed it. You know, it was a, it was a different way of thinking and I had to be open to that.
Marcus Hart (04:46.138)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (05:07.825)
But I think at that point I was open to anything. You know, I had the gift of desperation as we talked about in the rooms
Marcus Hart (05:11.225)
Right. Yeah. Man, know, amen to that. When we think about just the fact that like it does get a little bit easier, even if we feel like we're going backwards, you know, you know that I think that's powerful, you know, to put that in there and let people know that like, hey, you know, just because you realize don't mean it's, you know, it's end game, you know what the options are, you know, we're fine to help.
pick up that phone, walk into that clinic, whatever you have to do to continue moving forward because I like to describe things as, I like to describe our progress as like stock market. So one day we're now, but the next we might be up and we can stay consistent, but we're continually to climb that chart.
Nick Padlo (06:01.037)
Somebody was telling me one time in rehab and I wish I remembered what language this was, but in some language, the word for relapse is something that kind of loosely translates to convince her. And so sometimes that event is needed to convince us that like, no, I really do need to do things differently. It's a lesson that while hard learned, sometimes it can be one that's super valuable. I wasn't quite sure. Okay, now I'm sure.
Marcus Hart (06:13.967)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (06:21.573)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (06:30.95)
Ha
Marcus Hart (06:31.643)
Yeah. You mentioned earlier, you know, with your mission like that helping others like through dark times, like to live free of suffering. What sparked that shift from your own pain to building what you have now? And tell us a little bit about that recovery company that you do, that you provide service for others.
Nick Padlo (06:51.887)
Yeah, so I think, you know, if you look across different types of spirituality, or if you look across religions, or you look in the rooms of AA, like, it's almost, there's almost always a service component to it, right? There's almost always something about helping others. And I don't think that's just because it's like objectively good to do. I think it is objectively good to do, but I also think that there's something that we get out of it ourselves.
Marcus Hart (06:58.063)
Mm-hmm.
Marcus Hart (07:06.521)
No, right
Marcus Hart (07:15.301)
Mm-hmm.
Marcus Hart (07:21.434)
Yeah.
Nick Padlo (07:21.625)
Right. You know, what is that? Well, I mean, I think it's pretty easy to explain to military folks because, you know, we live this life of service to others, right? Or we felt like we did. We had this, you know, this code, this moral code that was like, I'm living for my guy on my left and my right. And like, I'm responsible for them or my soldiers or whatever. And, you know, we're trying to protect people, even in Afghanistan, Iraq, you know, so often it was about protecting the people, the people in the villages that like didn't have any way to defend themselves. And so this, this
Marcus Hart (07:37.658)
You're right.
Marcus Hart (07:48.037)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (07:51.533)
service to others is not foreign to us. And I think so many times when we leave the military, we don't see necessarily the outlet for that anymore. And I think it's something we're missing. It's like a part of our soul is gone. And so, for me, think that being able to work in this field and being able to work with other people helps fulfill that for me. Yes, it's good for them. It's also part of my work. just a little bit about what we do. When I went through treatment, I was like, man,
Marcus Hart (08:00.378)
Thank you.
Marcus Hart (08:14.235)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (08:20.867)
I want other people to be able to, I went to a good place and I was like, I want other people to have the same ability to have this that I had. And, you know, I went to an inpatient rehab and we're not that, so we do it on outpatient level. So our clients are with us anywhere from three to six hours a day. And, you know, as I thought about it, that was really the area where I got tripped up, you know, a couple of times in my recovery where, you know, like I said, I'm a great student in rehab, man. I ace all the tests there, but I also can't.
Marcus Hart (08:24.517)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (08:43.055)
Okay.
Nick Padlo (08:50.095)
I'm also not driving by the liquor store. I'm not driving by the gas station. I'm not driving by my dealer's house. I'm in a box and it's like, hey, I didn't use for 30 days. It's like, well, I didn't really have a choice. And so what we do is we provide that treatment within a context where you do have the choice. So you get some of those real life at bats and you've got to leave our center and you got to drive home and you might come in the next day and you might be like, man, I like.
Marcus Hart (08:56.175)
Okay.
Marcus Hart (09:01.861)
right.
Marcus Hart (09:09.935)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (09:15.857)
pulled over into the gas station and I sat in the parking lot for 30 minutes trying to decide if I was going to buy, you know, a 12 pack or you might say, I screwed up. I went over to my ex's house and we drank and used or whatever. And you might say that, well, either way, we're going to have a conversation about it and we're going to figure out what we need to do differently. And so you're learning in real time, right? And you have these like learning opportunities in the real world because no matter what you learn in rehab, it's kind of like, you know, yes, it's great. We needed it. I needed it.
Marcus Hart (09:22.04)
Yeah
Marcus Hart (09:32.761)
Great.
Marcus Hart (09:37.509)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (09:45.905)
And we've got to learn how to apply that in the real world. And sometimes, you know, it's kind of like if you, you know, played a sport and all you ever did was practice and you never played a game, you know, there's a little bit of a difference. You need some real life at bats. And so that's what we try to do is, um, you know, build a toolkit. I can talk more about that, but like build a toolkit of things to be successful in sobriety. we, when we have the option every day, we got the option.
Marcus Hart (09:49.455)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (09:58.821)
Exactly.
Marcus Hart (10:10.139)
Okay, and tell us once again what's the name of your company, while we kind of...
Nick Padlo (10:13.201)
Sophoros recovery is the name. It actually comes from a Greek word, sephrosony. So when Pandora's box was opened, we know about all the bad spirits, right? You're like, don't open Pandora's box, you know? And so in Greek mythology, in that story, if you look at the detailed version, all the bad things were released, but there was one thing that was released that was kind of the opposite. And it was the spirit of sephrosony, which allowed us to have judgment.
Marcus Hart (10:21.455)
Yeah, looks familiar. Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (10:39.651)
and our own decision making in light of all the stuff in the world. Like we have the choice. And so that spirit of Sophrosony is where we got the name. And so that's where Sophros came from.
Marcus Hart (10:41.168)
Hmm.
Marcus Hart (10:50.041)
That's powerful, man. I love the backstory to that, how you came up with that name. It's very fitting, you know. And just the type of grit, you know, that you are kind of lighten up for others, you know, it's definitely lights a fire in my soul, you know, to transform your family. know, Nick's story show us that like even in darkness, chaos, is a path to purpose. So let's dive deeper though into how...
you know, you're making it happen for veterans stuck in addictions grip, you know. So I want to talk about this crisis that we're unpacking today. In Wisconsin alone, know, where my home state is, rehab costs are 104 % of a veteran's average income, you know, 49K versus 47K. That's a wall most cannot climb, you know, from your work at SOFAS.
What's driving these insane calls and why are veterans getting hit so hard?
Nick Padlo (11:50.033)
So when you say that, you mean like the cash pay costs for going to rehab? Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, I mean, I think the challenge is to do it right does cost a lot of money, right? It just does. And unfortunately, we kind of have this two tiered system that's developed, right? Where places that are doing it right are real expensive and the ones that do it for less are not quality care.
Marcus Hart (11:54.157)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (12:05.498)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (12:18.213)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (12:18.255)
And that sucks. That's not great for anybody. And so I think that's like one of the drivers. You know, I think insurance companies and the way they do things as another driver. I mean, I could talk all day about that. But, you know, one of the things that I see, you know, can be real beneficial is, you know, using the VA, right? So the VA, you know, we've all had our experiences with the VA, some good, some bad. lot of it depends on where you are.
Marcus Hart (12:29.198)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (12:40.248)
Yeah.
Nick Padlo (12:45.649)
We're in what's called the community care network. so, if a veteran really needs help, sometimes they have to advocate on their own behalf, but they can go to the VA and say, hey, I really want to go to soft roast. And they're like, well, you got to our program. Like I tried it, it didn't work. I need to go soft roast. If they fight for it, they can get it. So there are partners within the VA community care network that you can fight to attend and it'll be covered a hundred percent by the VA. And the VA has their own programs too.
Marcus Hart (12:50.245)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (12:56.997)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (13:05.038)
Yeah.
Nick Padlo (13:14.949)
You know, I don't know how we get quality care and get the cost down, but I do know that there are certain tactics and tools that we can use either as veterans or not as veterans to be able to get the cost to us personally down. If that makes sense. And the other thing I tell people is like, you know, if you're not making much money, get on, get on the exchange, you know, on the healthcare exchange and get an inexpensive policy. If you don't have one, you know, even an, even a cheap policy.
Marcus Hart (13:27.621)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Marcus Hart (13:39.835)
What's that?
Nick Padlo (13:41.745)
you know, is going to be able to cover you a lot for this kind of stuff. Um, and so there's some opportunity and you can get one pretty much at the first of any month, you know, that if you have like qualifying event or whatever, but you know, get a policy, like don't fight with that. Cause you don't want to end up, know, if you, if you can get three or $400 to cover it, then you can go anywhere you want, you know, and somewhere that you can really get the help you need.
Marcus Hart (13:45.819)
Hmm.
Marcus Hart (14:01.243)
Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Yeah, that's very insightful. Thank you for that. I mean, because when we talk about quality care, especially with the VA wait times, there's a lot of frustration around that. The advocacy part for fight for community care services to cover some of these things that we can't afford out of pocket or we don't have access to an insurance policy.
health insurance policy that's outside of our VA coverage. you know, we talk about 17 days on average for like mental health care, you know, from your experience. Have you ever seen like how these delays impact on veterans recovery and maybe what's one practical step we can take to bridge that gap?
Nick Padlo (14:49.489)
I mean, the reality is that the impact of delays in mental health coverage is that we lose vets, people die. And when we're in that situation, if you had told me from that day in Dallas, I had to wait 17 days before I could go somewhere, I wouldn't be here talking to you today. And so I think that's a real problem. I don't think it is a real problem. On the civilian side, within treatment,
Marcus Hart (14:56.517)
Mm-hmm.
Marcus Hart (15:06.02)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (15:10.885)
Yeah.
Nick Padlo (15:19.247)
Like we can get somebody in next day. We can somebody the same day if they want, if they want, you know, but that's not always going to be available, you know? And like you said, with the VA, you know, sometimes there's these wait times. And I think my message to veterans is like, that's when you have to advocate for yourself. Like talk to somebody raise, raise hell, do what you got to do. But get a referral somewhere where they can help you if you need help. And there are some things that have come out like the compact act and
Marcus Hart (15:23.204)
Mm-hmm.
Marcus Hart (15:35.845)
Thanks.
Nick Padlo (15:47.535)
you know, some other stuff that was passed by Congress that's supposed to help with that. but it still takes, it still takes the individual to fight for it. And the downside is when we're in this spot, we don't have a lot of fight in us necessarily, you know? So if we're struggling with depression and you call somebody and they're like, well, we can't see for 20 days. You're like, okay. You know, like you just kind of accept your fate, right? but you know, if we
Marcus Hart (15:51.525)
Mm-hmm.
Marcus Hart (16:01.516)
Yeah
Marcus Hart (16:12.26)
Right.
Nick Padlo (16:14.545)
If we reach out to like a veteran advocate or somebody in the community that's like pulling for it, you know, or even a congressman, I don't care, you know, but get a friend or family member to help you, you know, because you do deserve that help. You've earned it. You, know, you, these benefits are yours and like, you know, you might need, you might need to call in a little help and veteran. We're not real good at that. You know, we're not, we're not good at asking for help, but we're even worse at asking for help to ask for help. Right. So, but.
Marcus Hart (16:21.659)
Thank
Marcus Hart (16:25.241)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (16:35.289)
Right.
Marcus Hart (16:40.183)
Yeah, that's even more, yeah. You do, you do. That's so very true, know, brother, know, I really, yeah, like glad that you really highlighted it and put it in that perspective. You know, it is very deflated when you hear, 20 days, know, next month you get an appointment and.
Nick Padlo (16:43.035)
But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, you know?
Marcus Hart (17:04.827)
it is hard, know, just to just sit there wondering like, okay, what's going to happen to me from now to then, you know, maybe I won't make it. But like you said, you know, we have to get the information out there to veterans to be their own advocates or, you know, grab someone who knows the system to kind of help navigate through it, you know, until things can like, you know, improve from, you know, hopefully we cross our fingers that
you know, even like more policies are passed to remove a lot of the red tape. So, Nick, you know, I want to talk about the opioid crisis among veterans. It's a hot topic right now, man. And with only 35 % of those with opioid use disorder getting medication-assisted treatment through the VA, you know, how does SOFIS recovery approach differ, you know, especially for vets battling addiction and PTSD?
Nick Padlo (17:59.589)
Yeah, so our approach for opiates is twofold. So one, we're looking at the medical side, which you mentioned. We're also looking at the clinical side. So that's the therapy and the treatment. There are multiple things that we can use as medication assisted treatment. We always think of suboxone. It used to be methadone, now everybody thinks of suboxone as the answer or subutex. Our doctor does prescribe that.
Marcus Hart (18:08.891)
Mm-hmm.
Marcus Hart (18:23.054)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (18:28.697)
Ideally for us when we look at that one, we're looking at a long term taper. So for me, the goal is not to live the rest of your life on Suboxone. The goal is to use Suboxone as a tool while you build the tools and skills to be able to live without Suboxone. That's an ideal world, right? That's for somebody that can get treatment. And you know what? If you got to be on it, it's better than being on fentanyl. It's better than being on Percocets. It's a better solution.
Marcus Hart (18:38.779)
Hmm.
Marcus Hart (18:46.831)
Yeah.
Nick Padlo (18:54.705)
So that solution is out there and we definitely, you know, endorse it when it makes sense. We also use Vivitrol, if you're familiar with that, which is, you know, another medication assisted treatment. It's a shot you get. There's a pill form called naltrexam, but there's a Vivitrol that's the shot version. And we've seen great success with that. It differs from buprenorphine, from suboxone in the way that it's not an opiate. It just blocks the receptors. So you're not getting any type of kind of like
Marcus Hart (19:03.065)
No.
Marcus Hart (19:20.442)
Okay.
Nick Padlo (19:23.427)
opiate satisfaction from it, but it keeps you from being able to get high off opiates while you're building the tools and skills. So now you got three or four months in, you haven't used, you've got this blocker. Okay, now we can start to reset our brain so we don't need opiates anymore. But I think it's so important to be doing something, whether it's mat treatment or whether it's another level of treatment, whatever it is, we got to be doing something because this thing's like...
Marcus Hart (19:43.12)
Right.
Nick Padlo (19:51.631)
It's so hard to kick, you know, thankfully I, I didn't, I didn't have opiates in my life. had different drugs, you know, but, and then not that they weren't, not that they were easy, but, you know, I see the pull of, of, of opiates and how strongly addictive it can be for some people. And, you know, there's no shame in needing tools to help you with that. you know, and there are, you know, within communities, there's a lot right now.
So recently we had these lawsuits against Purdue Pharma and a lot of that grant money is getting filtered down now through the states. And if you're not kind of in the network, you don't know where that money is going necessarily. But I get the emails for Jacksonville, for example. So there's a lot of money that's going around to community nonprofit organizations that help with this kind of stuff. So even if it's not the VA and even if it's not veteran focused,
Marcus Hart (20:26.363)
Mm-hmm.
Marcus Hart (20:35.877)
Right.
Marcus Hart (20:40.293)
Okay.
Nick Padlo (20:49.381)
Right now there are a lot of organizations within every state, at least will be every state, that people can access as resources that might be able to help them either get treatment or get MAT treatment or whatever it might be. There's a lot more coming. So I think it's good to keep in touch with that just in case it's something that you need to be able to leverage.
Marcus Hart (21:03.513)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (21:14.509)
Yeah, that's great, man. know, trauma informed care, you know, and you also have like, you you mentioned, you know, the holistic therapies as office as well. Maybe can you break down one or two innovative approaches that are kind of game changers for veterans, know, stuff to VA or traditional rehabs might be missing and, in you can even slip in like how this really kind of helps civilians.
Nick Padlo (21:42.127)
Yeah. I mean, one of the things that we have had a lot of success with our veterans with it's called ART, which is accelerated resolution therapy. So, if you're familiar with EMDR, basically you look back and forth while processing a memory. like, if I were to ask you, Marcus, if I were to ask you what the interior color on your first car was, you'd probably think about it for a minute and you'd like look somewhere. And so by looking somewhere, what we're doing is we're accessing memories, right? Our eyes, our eyeballs are helping us access the memories. Well, it's the same thing with this.
Marcus Hart (21:48.027)
Mm-hmm.
Marcus Hart (22:06.053)
Yeah Right
Nick Padlo (22:12.273)
but we use accelerated resolution therapy because it doesn't dredge up the trauma as much. Cause like you mentioned, trauma informed care is so important, right? We don't want to treat trauma and make it worse. And so what we're trying to do is we're trying to say, okay, we need to release this like a, like a steam pot, you know, a little bit at a time. So we're starting to work through it. So we use this thing called accelerated resolution therapy that allows us to work through some of those traumas without unlocking the real dark real fast, right?
Marcus Hart (22:20.793)
Right.
Marcus Hart (22:24.482)
is acting.
Marcus Hart (22:31.333)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (22:41.137)
So that's one thing that we use there, therapists are trained in. But one of the things that was so helpful for me, and this one's easy and accessible to everybody is mindfulness. after I went to rehab the second time, I went to Cambodia and I lived in a temple over there just practicing yoga and meditation for eight hours a day. And army guy from the South going over there to do some woo-woo Eastern hippie stuff, right?
Marcus Hart (22:52.485)
Mm hmm.
Marcus Hart (23:04.397)
Wow.
Nick Padlo (23:10.341)
It was crazy. But it took me a long time to accept that I really needed that. And people say, well, my brain's too busy. if I try to think about nothing, all the trauma comes up. It's like, okay, good. That's you're the person that needs it then. Right? Because the whole purpose of mindfulness is to have this object of meditation. And we keep coming back to that object. And that might be our breath. It might be something else. But we start to get pulled away by the trauma. We start to get pulled away by these things.
Marcus Hart (23:10.903)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (23:15.759)
Mm-hmm.
Marcus Hart (23:26.576)
Right.
Marcus Hart (23:31.778)
Nick Padlo (23:39.611)
bring ourselves back, pull away, bring ourselves back, pull away, bring ourselves back. And so we're practicing, it's like working out, right? So we're strengthening that muscle and that ability to come back to reality. And man, that was a game changer for me.
Marcus Hart (23:41.466)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (23:47.596)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (23:53.051)
Yeah, it definitely is for me too. I'm kind of glad to see some of the schools are kind of experimenting with instituting it as an extra course in elementary school. I'm seeing it middle school, high schools, even college. I'm seeing it a little bit more. And it's definitely powerful, man. I think we take it kind of
for granted sometimes, like, you know, like, because we, it seems so simple. It's like, okay, it is really working. But once you do it for about a week or two, you know, you really start seeing some gains and some improvement. I know. So, so speaking of like practicality, man, and I really want to get practical. For a veteran listening who's struggling with addiction, but kind of scared of the cost or the weight,
What's one step they can take today to start a recovery journey?
Nick Padlo (24:54.033)
Man, I tell you one step today is open that phone and go to a meeting. It might be an AA 12 step meeting. It might be smart recovery meeting. It might be Dharma meeting. Go somewhere. Talk to some people that have some lived experience. They're free. There's no, you can do it on Zoom. I don't care. You know, it's like very easy to access. Do it on Zoom, keep your camera off and listen to the first one. That's fine. Eventually you got to get involved because otherwise we always say it's like going to the gym and watching everybody work out. But, but first step you could just go, right?
Marcus Hart (24:58.842)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (25:09.689)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (25:19.949)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (25:22.459)
Pick up the phone and call somebody, right? Whether it's the, you know, 9-8-8 veteran crisis line, right? You can call them. You can call, you know, phone a friend that's been here before, phone a battle buddy. You know what I mean? Like, I know that phone feels like it weighs 3000 pounds, but like pick it up and call somebody. So, you know, I always say, what I always tell people is nothing changes if nothing changes. And so as long as we're doing the same things, we're going to, we can expect the same results.
Marcus Hart (25:33.965)
Thank
Marcus Hart (25:47.342)
Yep.
Nick Padlo (25:51.313)
So do something different. And that might be calling the VA, that might be going to a meeting, that might be phoning a friend. The good thing is you got a menu of options. There's not necessarily a right answer on first step, but the first step, you got to take it, do something different. You've been going to meetings, it's not working. Okay, maybe we need to go to treatment. You've been to treatment and it's not working. Maybe we need to look at a different place. You know, maybe we need to look at changing our environment. Change it. You're a bartender. Oh, okay, that's going to make it really easy for you to quit then. Maybe we need to change that like.
Marcus Hart (25:52.068)
Exactly.
Marcus Hart (26:00.219)
Mm-hmm.
Marcus Hart (26:12.621)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (26:18.581)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Nick Padlo (26:19.857)
You know, let's start changing some stuff up because right now this life that we're on to so tightly and we're like, I can't change anything. I don't want to change. It's not serving us. Right. And so sometimes we got to let go of friends. We got to let go of people in our life. We got to let go of work. We got to go to treatment. We got to do things differently, you know, and all those reasons that we have about why we can't. I can't go for 30 days. What about my kids? Well, your kids are going to better off if you're healthy. I can't go for 30 days. I got to work because I
Marcus Hart (26:30.435)
Nah.
Marcus Hart (26:38.06)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (26:47.716)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (26:49.807)
I want to make rent. Well, you're not going make rent in three months if you keep drinking anyway. you know, all these excuses we've had, the reality is we got to do something different.
Marcus Hart (26:58.943)
Right. Yeah, man. Transform your family if you're listening to this. It's wild how Nick's flipping the script on addiction recovery. So we're not just talking problems today. We're talking solutions that can change lives. So if you're feeling this, hit the share button right now and spread the hope. So let's dive in. I know I had kept you for a while here, and I really want to kind of bring this home. Tell us. I would like for you to kind of tell us, know,
more about what folks can expect when they reach out to your team and how do you help them find their way back?
Nick Padlo (27:36.113)
Yeah, so someone calls us. know, first thing I always say when somebody calls, you know, if I'm picking up the phone, I'm like, just tell me what's going on. Right. I want to hear what's going on. You know, I want to talk about insurance. want to let me know what's going on. How can we help you? So we'll hear a little bit of your story. And if it makes sense for our program, if we're like, OK, yeah, this could work out. All right, come in. We'll do an assessment, you know, and talk a little more in depth, like make sure that you're appropriate for care. You're safe.
Marcus Hart (27:51.396)
Yeah.
Nick Padlo (28:05.561)
with us, you know, in terms of like medical detox and all that stuff. We'll make sure you know, you got what you need. And then when you start the program, you know, you see your therapist, you see the nurse, you see the doctor, you kind of, get to lay the land and we come up with a treatment plan. And that treatment plan is just goals. So it might be, you know, abstinence from, you know, alcohol and opiates. It might be build relationship with family, reestablish relationship with son.
Marcus Hart (28:07.323)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (28:17.826)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (28:33.229)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (28:35.121)
you know, lessen, depressant, depressive symptoms, you know, whatever those goals are. And then over the course of 10 to 14 weeks, eight weeks, whatever it is, we'll work with you on them. We're working in group therapy and group therapy sounds super daunting, right? Why do why do I gotta get with a bunch of people, you know, and talk about these things? It's because that's where we start to heal. You know, when we hear other people that are going through the same things and we, we learn from them and we learn from their progress and we do individual therapy too. So mostly we're focused on a few things. One,
Marcus Hart (28:47.589)
Thanks.
Marcus Hart (28:50.981)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Nick Padlo (29:05.109)
How do we reframe our unhealthy thoughts into healthy ones? That's got a name. It's cognitive behavioral therapy if you want to look it up, but it's like, do we reframe those thoughts? Two is like, what do we do when we're topped out? Nine out of 10, 10 out of 10. How do we start to like, okay, I just got to accept that this is true and I'm going to do something different. I really want to drink and I can choose not to today. That's DBT. So that's dialectical behavior therapy. We do the mindfulness stuff. We work on relationships, emotions.
Marcus Hart (29:09.125)
Mm-hmm.
Marcus Hart (29:23.983)
You
Marcus Hart (29:28.379)
All right.
Nick Padlo (29:34.319)
You know, it's like, if you were building a house and you had a hammer, it's a very useful tool when you're building a house, you probably need a hammer. You also probably need a screwdriver. You also probably need a level. You also probably need a ruler. also, you know, there's all sorts of stuff you need. And so we can't just have one tool because life's going to throw different stuff at us and we're to have different tools. And the goal is by the time you leave us, you've got a full toolkit you're walking around with. You're not, you're not invincible, but at least you got a toolkit to deal with what comes.
Marcus Hart (29:45.145)
Mm-hmm.
Marcus Hart (29:58.905)
Yeah.
Marcus Hart (30:03.099)
I truly understand why your work is a lifeline for like many others, who out there who needs it and you're lives. And I really love this, man. For someone who's out there, it's going to be people who are going to be skeptical, man. Maybe they tried rehab before and it just didn't stick. What's one thing you'll say to give them hope that recovery is possible?
Nick Padlo (30:19.057)
Sure.
Nick Padlo (30:28.101)
I mean, I know my own story and I know how far down I was. I know it took me a couple of shots and I know that my life is better today than, you know, it ever has been. And I'm happy and I'm in a great relationship and I got a new place. I mean, life is good, you know, it doesn't mean it won't be challenging again. I'm sure it'll throw something else out. Maybe right now life is good. and it does get better. And I've seen it in the lives of hundreds of veterans that have come through our program and.
Marcus Hart (30:56.837)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Padlo (30:57.221)
just like me, none of them would have ever believed me beforehand, right? So you don't have to believe just yet. Just know that a lot of other non-believers are now doing great, you know? And all it takes is just making it work, you know? We always just say, keep coming back. Sometimes it takes us a little bit to get it, but when we do, know, things really do get better.
Marcus Hart (31:20.197)
That's awesome, man. So if people want to get in touch with you, you know, or like, you know, or if they just want to connect and learn more about self is recovery. How can you do that?
Nick Padlo (31:30.609)
Yeah, so just go to softroastrecovery.com, S-O-P-H-R-O-S, recovery.com. I mean, people can give us a call, 904-440-1479. And even if you're not in our area, man, we'll dig and we'll find, we'll make sure you're pointing the right direction. So, you know, use this as a line if you need us. It's not about the business to me.
Marcus Hart (31:46.775)
I don't know. Yeah.
It's good to know man, you know, today's conversation with Nick, know has been straight fire You know, so transforming family from the gut punch of rehab cause question veterans to the hope of innovative therapies and Nick's very own journey from PTSD to purpose This is what transformation looks like, you know, so if this episode is something in you Here's what I need you to do hit that like button subscribe to the transform you live show and comment below with one Takeaway that's sticking with you
Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. Let's spread this hope together and listen. We're all about helping you ignite your own transformation. And those of you who are out there and want to share your own story, a feature, our services are available to you. Or you can just join my sub stack and blog for guest features at $5 a month. Feeling generous? Support our work with a coffee tip. If any size for a one-off guest feature, check it all out at Marcus-Hart.com, for slash newsroom-blogs. Plus, don't miss out.
on the free three minute prayer guide or the book that would be all in the episode description along with Nick's information. Nick, thank you again for dropping truth and hope today.
Nick Padlo (33:00.305)
Appreciate it Marcus, glad to be here.
Marcus Hart (33:03.191)
Excellent brother. Welcome to the family. and to my transform your family out there, keep fighting, keep believing, and as always, many blessings, peace, and lots of love. We're out.
